Ban on hoodies on hold

OHIO -- Plans to ban hoodies from GlenOak High School remain on hold as school officials plan to discuss the issue with students this week.

Edd Pritchard

Plans to ban hoodies from GlenOak High School remain on hold as school officials plan to discuss the issue with students this week.
Last Wednesday, the day before the Thanksgiving holiday break, students were told they no longer would be allowed to wear zip-up hoodies during classes.
Hoodies are hooded sweat shirts and some types zip similar to coats. Plain Local students aren’t allowed to wear coats during classes, so GlenOak officials planned to ban wearing the zip-up hoodies.
The announced ban took students by surprise. They reacted, planning a protest and sending petitions through cyberspace.
The reaction took school officials by surprise. They opted to delay action, then talk with students and parents.
“We just really need to have some conversation about it,” Superintendent Chris Smith said Tuesday. “We’ll work through this.”
Students unhappy about the proposed ban did go through with their protest, wearing hoodies to school when classes resumed Tuesday.
Renee Starn, who with her twin sister Natalie helped organize the protest, estimated that half of GlenOak’s students wore hoodies Tuesday.
“It was definitely more zip-ups today,” she said.
Starn figured that more students wore hoodies than would on an average day.
Since temperatures have started to drop, more students have been donning blue jeans and hoodies when they come to school, she said.
Students were told Tuesday not to wear hoodies that had fur around the hood, or hoodies similar to a windbreaker, Starn said. Sweat shirts or hoodies made from fleece -- including zip-up hoodies -- still are OK.
Not wearing coats to class has been a rule for years, and students understand, Starn said. But for some students, hoodies have become their coat.
Smith said the administration has board approval to address school dress codes.
“We make decisions every day telling kids that’s an appropriate thing to wear, that’s not an appropriate thing to wear,” he said.
Reach Canton Repository writer Edd Pritchard at (330) 580-8484 or edd.pritchard@cantonrep.com.